Hidden Darkness
by KrisEleven
Summary: Drabble series looking into the darkness they hide inside- from each other, and from themselves. Features characters from Immortals, Beka Cooper, Protector, and SotL series.
1. Behind His Eyes

A/N Edited 01/16/10. This is my first attempt at a drabble-- 100 words, exactly. I didn't realize how difficult it was, limiting thoughts to such a small word count, especially when the characters and subject are as interesting as I find these to be. This may inspire a longer look into these issues, but for now it will be a short series looking into the hidden aspects of darkness within some of the characters of Tortall. Enjoy!

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Most people did not see his darkness.

He was aware of it and he hid it deep. It represented his change from the merchants' son he had been and he _hated_ Ozorne so much it hurt, sometimes, for creating this (although, in quiet times, he wondered if it may have been there all along…)

Most of the time, he didn't have to pretend to be the man they thought he was— but he had seen dungeons and had felt the pain (and inflicted it, too, but he never _ever_ talked about that) and the darkness remained….

Slightly behind his eyes.


	2. Boxes

A/N I think the word count on here counts abbreviations as two words-- I'm cheating and using my writing program's word count rather than this one. The previous chapter was Numair. Edited: 07/020/09.

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Because Alanna knew how well he was able to hide himself – had seen him disguise his accent, his mannerisms, his very self – he thought it would occur to her that the man he returned to being, when they were together, was a disguise in itself.

And it was, in part. In the Lower City, he had hurt so many people it had melded together into faces and the blood and a box of ears he had hardly been able to look at (and yet couldn't get rid of).

It didn't occur to him that she, too, had darkness to hide.

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	3. In Her Own Right

A/N If anyone has characters/issues they'd like to see featured, feel free to include it in your review or send it in a PM. Tano is the Banjiku slave in Emperor Mage. The previous chapter's character was George. Edited: 07/20/09.

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The gods are not known for feeling – not as we do. They don't understand compassion or love or guilt. They have watched entire civilizations fall, and although they may interfere occasionally, they don't really _care_.

And though Daine is only half of the gods, Tano looked into her face when the Carthaki prince passed along news of the execution and he saw that cold promise of retribution to be enacted upon him who _dared_ harm her.

Later, standing before the rat-covered ruins, he thought there might be a reason so few of the god's children were born into this world.

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	4. Since She Tried to Fly

A/N The title of the last chapter was inspired by part of Trickster's Choice, where Aly speaks of Daine being a demi-god in her own right. The title of this one was inspired by the lyrics of one of my favourite songs. The previous chapter was of Daine. Edited 07/20/09.

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She was sure it would end, this happiness she'd found. One day she would look around and would see her country destroyed, her family scattered, her work undone. Deep in her bones, she knew she was incapable of stopping it.

So she never climbed Balor's Needle. Not for the reason her husband believed – that she was frightened of the height, of the memory of _her_ leap. It was because she was so like her mother that she feared herself, feared if she didn't stay on the ground, she might be tempted to fly _that_ day, when all had been lost.

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	5. Ruthless

A/N This doesn't spoil for Bloodhound-- although it does include a bit of my made-up past for this character. The previous chapter's character was Thayet. Edited: 01/16.10.

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He was King of the Rogue, he told himself. He _had_ to be ruthless.

But he knew it was a lie.

He woke, in pre-dawn moments, and remembered how he had been, saw how much the ruthlessness had shaped him…. Changed him.

Aniki and Kora knew the man hidden behind daggers and a scar; they had been there at the beginning, before he was the Piper.

(When blood that mattered was still wet upon his hands)

It broke his heart that the other person who saw through him was _her_, because still she turned away.

Even though he loved her.


	6. The Ghosts We Knew

A/N The previous chapter was of Rosto. Edited 01/16/10.

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She sometimes suspected she was haunted.

She felt foolish for the idea, but she couldn't explain why Numair's tone and expression could mirror her twin's or why Jon unexpectedly had the smile of a long-dead enemy, and she didn't _understand_ why the ones she'd lost and the ones she'd killed visited her dreams, more real than mere memories.

She continued to heal, hoping one day she would do enough good to placate the dead who followed her. And if not, she would live with the reminders of her actions and answer to the Black God when her time finally came.


	7. To Feel

A/N This is for Luna, who requested this character. Thanks to SSSarah for reading this before I posted (and encouraging my insanity). The previous chapter was Alanna. Edited 01/16/10.

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One of his women told him, the night she left his bed, that he was incapable of feeling anything.

She had said a lot more than that (and had practically trashed his rooms) but that was what he remembered about her, even after he'd forgotten her name.

Some nights he couldn't breathe, worrying about the people he loved. His men dying around him, his Meathead cousin at war, Kel with her stupid, _noble_, ideals.

He held down his panic during the day, hidden behind a smile, but at night, if he was alone….

He did feel. That was the problem.


	8. Nestlings

AN The previous chapter was Dom. Thanks, as always, to Sweet Sassy Sarah and LunaSphere for being awesome. The Ficship Competition polls are only open for another 10 days! Don't forget to go and support your nominated favourites.

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Crows have a single-minded determination. They will mob animals much larger than themselves to protect nestlings too young to fly.

Dove had disliked that she couldn't break Nawat of his habit of calling her the Nestling Queen until the assassination attempt. In the middle of the room, before her guard could react, Dove looked at her attackers' broken necks, killed without the slightest hesitation.

Nawat smiled, unconcerned, and returned to picking at the food he hadn't even dropped while he killed five men. And, for the first time, she understood the danger of a soldier with a wild animal's mind.

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	9. The Light and Liquid in an Amber Bottle

A/N The last chapter was, of course, of Nawat. This chapter takes place around the end of Squire.

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He sat in his darkened office, staring at the lone candle's light flickering off the amber bottle he was using to ease the pain of his scars (the pain of his new weakness, of his newly revealed failures).

Drinking deep, he wondered if something had changed in the past eight years, or if he had always been wrong. Because if the one he had _known_ was going to fail became a legend, as it now appeared she would, and the student most like himself was felled by the Chamber...

Scars and failures. He wondered if the one bottle would do.

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	10. Masks or Mirrors

A/N The last chapter was Wyldon. This chapter is for GabbyTheBookworm, who requested a couple characters and actually got one. Shocking, I know.

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He pretended to be so much: confident when he was uncertain, fearless when terrified, powerful when he was defenseless, uncaring when cut through to the core.

It was because he wasn't one man, not really. He was everything the people required; their figurehead, their leader, their Voice, their King. He put on the masks, for them, to give them what they needed.

Though, he wondered if it actually was a mask he looked through. Because he knew he truly could be as caustic, careless, and as cold as he thought he pretended to be.

But if it wasn't for them...


	11. What Love Is

A/N The last chapter was of Jon.

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She hadn't liked dogs until after her marriage, when she realized the only friend she'd have was the puppy he treated worse than he treated her.

He was the runt and she named him Ox. Her husband mocked her until the puppy grew into his name. Then he mocked her for everything else, and beat the pup every time he got in his way.

Even though he ruined five years of her life and left her for dead, it was for Tahoi that she would _kill_ him if she saw him again.

Sometimes, she almost prayed to see him again.


	12. The Things I Need

A/N I haven't had anything to update on this story in a long time, but here we are. This is set immediately after the SotL era. The last chapter was a story on Onua.

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He sighed at the glittering ballroom, feeling as out of place for his personality as for the dark clothes he wore amidst the jeweled nobles surrounding him.

Another drink from a servant; another drink downed. He couldn't get through this without the comfort of a glass in his hand (too much noise, too many expectations, not enough _space_). With Jon as king, he found himself unable to dodge the events, and needing a drink outside them more often.

No, not _needing_. He _wanted_ that drink.

_I can stop anytime_, he thought as he accepted another glass with a trembling hand.


	13. Mercy

A/N The first time a character has been repeated! Yesek is an OC; I made him up so he can observe something about this chapter's character that needed to be observed. Last chapter's character was, as almost everyone guessed, Raoul.

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Yesek was arrested for thieving. Faking shame so none suspected he was also responsible for the missing girls they'd never bring home, he was brought in for trial. He had heard this new lord was _kind_ (he knew that 'kind' meant 'weak').

Then Yesek looked at the Baron and knew he saw, somehow, _every_ sin Yesek had committed. There was no hatred in his expression, no righteous anger… only retribution: cold, final, and utterly indifferent. Yesek begged; he was a coward and knew no other way.

Those hazel eyes never left his.

There was no mercy to be found there.


	14. Right In Front of Your Face

A/N The last chapter was George. Here is a new kind of character to study. This takes place during the timeline of Emperor Mage.

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When his only friend defied him, he couldn't understand. When he left, he couldn't forgive.

He had relied on Arram to ground the reality that was slipping always further from his reach. With him gone, it was impossible to tell what he imagined and what was real until… it didn't matter. He was Emperor. Reality was his to imagine.

He would take the girl his old friend loved because he _honestly _believed that Arram had wronged him.

If that belief had been morphed by madness, well… those closest to him now had no tongues. How were they to tell him?


	15. Haunted

A/N The last chapter (so long ago!) was Ozorne. This one was written for the first TPE Halloween challenge! The quote above was one of ten provided to inspire a story and this ended up being it. Enjoy!

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_"Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us and, sometimes, they win." -Stephen King_

He had always been haunted by a ghost. It had lurked in a motherless childhood, an empty manor, and a father's constantly closed door.

Even though he gained great power, it never left him. Not even his sister could see how this specter drove him, telling him that if he wasn't the _best_ then he had proven _nothing_: he was still that disappointment of a son his father couldn't even be bothered to know.

Long before he brought Roger of Conté back from the dead, he was haunted by himself.

And it was this ghost which would, ultimately, kill him.


	16. Creating Monsters

A/N The last chapter was Thom. Pretty sure I had his name in there, since the pronouns got confusing while talking about him and Roger. This chapter has the characters' name in it, as well, as he is only quasi-canon. Hakkon is the falconer in Snowsdale, Daine's village, and was the one who led the men in hunting her after she went cra'. His character has been written by me before, in Breaking Point. And so, Halloween prompt #2 from TPE!

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_"Sometimes human places create inhuman monsters." -The Shining_

Snowsdale was the kind of village where basket of broths and bread were left on struggling families' doorsteps, where others' children were watched as carefully as one's own. It was a good place, but could only take so much hardship before it created something... dark. Hakkon was leading Snowsdale men through the mountains, hunting Sarra's daughter. Daine had turned, after the bandits, running wild, killing with her hands and teeth.

Hakkon was sick with the decision. The others joked as if they were hunting rabbits, or deer.

They called Daine 'monster'. Hakkon knew with certainty who'd, truly, been made monstrous.


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